Hangers have long been used in supporting apparel for storage and display. They commonly have an upper hook of a size and shape to be hooked over a cylindrical support bar along with others in side by side relation. Typically, the hangers have a support rod located below and in the plane of the hook and an inverted V-shaped shoulder bar that supports each end of the support rod below the hook to the apex of which the hook is mounted. So constructed, the support rod is suspended horizontally beneath the hook once it is hooked over an ancillary cylindrical support bar such as those mounted in clothes closets or on display racks. Shirts and jackets may then be draped over shoulder bar and pants draped over the hanger rod.
Hangers have also been designed and used in supporting neckties. Exemplary of these specialty type hangers are those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,150,869; 3,268,088; 4,368,823; 4,632,285; 4,811,852 and 5,526,968. These designs have in general failed to obtain acceptance. Their lack of success can be attributable to the complexity and cost of some of their constructions. Others have failed to suspend a number of neckties spaced from each other such that they are both readily viewable, mountable and retrievable. For example, neckties are actually draped one upon the other in stacks in the hangers of the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,632,285 and 4,811,852 patents. With most the neckties are suspended generally along the plane of the hanger hook and support structure such they do not face outwards from the ancillary hanger support bar but rather at 90.degree. to such. This restricts their view such that one in browsing for a necktie must cock his head or twist the hanger. Other tie holders have a series of pegs mounted on a board or on a circular support that is mounted to a wall.
Another problem in common with hangers is their instability. Most of their hooks are curved to match the curvature of the support rod from which they are hooked. This enables them to rotate freely and thus to tilt to one side or the other when their necktie load is uneven. This is aggravated where the curvature of the hook fails to match that of the cylindrical bar. Indeed, this often happens since the curvature of the hook must be large to be able to be hooked on bars of various sizes. Due to their shape they are ill suited for use in confined spaces. Their constructions have also been directed primarily at the support of neckties rather than belts. Thus when belts are draped over their support rod, belts being made of stronger and less flexible material than soft neckties, they have bulged substantially outwardly and tended to fall off easily what with one of their ends usually having a heavier buckle component than their opposite end.
Accordingly, it is seen that if an apparel hanger could be devised that tended to ameliorate these problems long associated with apparel hangers, a distinct advantage could be achieved. It is to the provision of such that this invention is primarily directed.